


birthday gifts, boyfriends & banter

by gothzabini (girl412)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Birthday Fluff, Canon Compliant, F/M, Falling In Love, Family Issues, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Happy birthday Lily Evans, Hogwarts Seventh Year, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Late Night Conversations, M/M, best friends forever & all that, pls read this it's about my faves, sirius and lily have a friendship that rivals sirius and james's friendship, talking about love, technically canon compliant but i will never accept their deaths
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-30
Updated: 2019-01-30
Packaged: 2019-10-19 14:31:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17603114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/girl412/pseuds/gothzabini
Summary: Lily's sad on her birthday because she never thought her sister would treat her like this. Fortunately for her, Sirius knows what she's going through. Featuring soft midnight conversations, family drama, and useful advice. Guests appearances include Remus Lupin, and........his pet dog?





	birthday gifts, boyfriends & banter

**Author's Note:**

> couldn't let Lily's birthday go by without doing anything, now could i?  
> i feel like this could technically be rated Gen, but there's a cigarette mention in there, and some casual usage of the word 'fuck', so yeah. maybe not, lol.

It’s 11:45, and Lily’s aware that there are only fifteen more minutes of her birthday left. She could use it to ask for favours from her friends – she has a Herbology essay that James would probably be all too willing to check for her, Alice makes neat midnight tea, Marlene only shares her lucky sweater on special occasions, Remus might actually sing a ballad for her, and Dorcas’s default birthday gift for everyone at this point is a custom, hand-drawn portrait of them. It’s not like Lily needs to ask for anything more, though – she’s already gotten plenty of gifts from many people. The problem is not what she has, but what she doesn’t have.

There’s a shuffling noise, a little padding of feet that remind her of Rusty, the dog who lives across the street from where she lives. A big, shaggy-looking black dog lopes up to her, tail wagging enthusiastically, eyes bright. His eyes look surprisingly grey for a dog, a little bit like storm clouds, or, Lily realises, Sirius Black’s eyes _._ Remembering the nickname the other boys fondly call him, she frowns, and then whispers, “Padfoot?” 

The dog barks, affirmative.

Lily smiles, amused. She leans over, running her hands through the dog’s fur. 

“Whose are you?” she asks softly. She thinks it’s just like James to find a big, shaggy dog and name said dog after his best friend, but she knows James would’ve told her if he’d smuggled a dog into school. As often is, she wonders if maybe the Marauder nobody really suspects is the one behind the mischief. “Do you belong to Remus?” 

The dog barks again, putting his front paws on the sofa. There’s a yell from the dormitory upstairs, and Lily hears James yelling, “Lupin, you’re on dog duty! Go get Pads back!” 

“So your name really is Padfoot,” Lily murmurs, her melancholy forgotten. She’s so engrossed in running her hands through his warm, comforting fur, that she doesn’t hear soft footsteps as Remus walks downstairs. “And you belong to Remus.”

“I wouldn’t say he _belongs_ to me, exactly,” Remus says, a wry smile on his face. Lily feels like there’s a joke here, one that she doesn’t know enough about to understand. “Padfoot is a wild spirit, aren’t you, love?” 

Padfoot makes a whining noise, abandoning Lily for Remus. Remus bends over, and as Lily watches, the boy who is sometimes a wolf and the dog who looks big enough to be mistaken for a wolf seem to be having some sort of conversation in canine noises.

“Moony,” she says, carefully using the moniker that the others call their friendly neighbourhood werewolf, “can you talk to dogs?” 

“Not all dogs want to talk to me,” Remus says, and then he proceeds to carry Padfoot up the stairs. Padfoot curls up against Remus’s shoulder.

Lily smiles, managing not to dwell on how Petunia missed her birthday yet again. She’s the only person left in the common room, and the letter from her parents that she’s read at least five times lies on the table in front of her. She’d sent the family a picture of her and James. Maybe that’d been the breaking point for Petunia.

Again, Lily hears footsteps, though this time they’re heavier, and remind her of Gretchen’s punk rock boots. She looks up, and sees Sirius Black. His hair’s a mess, as if someone’s been running their fingers through it, but other than that, he looks as put together as he always does – leather jacket, band t-shirt, bracelets that she’d watch James make him during History of Magic hour covering his wrists entirely.

“Wotcher, Evans,” he says, sitting next to her on the sofa easily. When James had first begun dating Lily, they’d both been a little cold towards each other, seeming to have nothing in common other than James. After getting to know each other a little more though, Lily had found herself a friend in Sirius unlike any friend she’d ever expected to have. Sirius, on his part, got along with Lily the same way he got along with James – as if their friendship was destined to happen, pre-determined by the forces of the universe.

“Hiya, Pads,” she shoots back just as easily. “Why is Remus’s dog named after you?”

Sirius smiles, and shakes his head. “My lips are sealed, Lils. It’s Remus’s secret, not mine.” 

“Right,” Lily says, moving to face him. “What brings you here?” 

“It’s your birthday,” Sirius says.

“Not anymore, it’s five past midnight,” Lily points out.

“Alright, then. Your birthday just passed,” Sirius says, undaunted. “And I wanted to talk to you.”

“About what?”

“If your family isn’t alright with James,” Sirius says. There’s something almost knowing in his eyes. “Or something, I don’t know. I just wanted to say...” He stops, uncharacteristically silent.

“Get to it,” she says,  impatient.

“I know what it’s like when your younger sibling doesn’t approve of your boyfriend,” he says leaning back on the sofa and stretching his legs out a little. “I know how it feels when your little brother doesn’t think of you as family anymore.” 

“Well, fuck you,” Lily says, even though they both know she isn’t angry with _him_. “You can’t make me cry on my birthday.”

“It’s not your birthday anymore,” Sirius reminds her, casually wrapping an arm around her shoulder.

“Fuck off,” Lily whispers, but she leans against him all the same. “You noticed that she didn’t send me anything?” 

“Nah, more like noticed you were acting the way I felt like acting after Reggie cornered me and asked if the _rumours_ were true,” Sirius says, his voice dripping with bitterness as he says the word ‘rumours.’

Lily instinctively takes one of his hands in hers.

“Is it worth it?” she asks, softly.

Sirius sighs, resting his head atop hers. 

“If you love him, then yes,” Sirius says. “Then it’s worth everything in the world.”

Lily blinks. “It’s just, I expected Tuney to be happy for me, you know? We were close as kids. She used to be my best friend before I got the Hogwarts letter and she didn’t.” 

Sirius hums. “I understand. When I sorted Gryffindor, I lost Reg. I didn’t know it then, but in hindsight, it’s miserably clear. Hey, do you want a cigarette?”

“What would I want one of those for?” Lily asks, moving from her comfortable position to give Sirius a questioning look.

“To smoke, that’s what cigs are meant for,” Sirius says easily. 

“No,” Lily says. “I’ve got only two lungs, I don’t want to ruin them.” 

“Hmm,” Sirius says. “Mind if I go ahead?” 

Lily hands him a match, and he gives her a smile.

“And you’re okay with Regulus keeping his distance?” Lily asks, softly.

“Yeah, of course,” Sirius says, and he looks almost flustered. “It’s like, I had to choose between my family and the people I loved. Reg fell in the middle, and he chose which side he wanted to be on.”

“Are you in love?” Lily asks.

Sirius gives her a questioning look, but one that’s free of judgement. After a moment of silence, he nods. 

“I thought you knew that,” he says softly. “Yes, I am. I somehow managed to convince the kindest person in the world to fall in love with me. If I had to choose between the person I’m in love with and my brother, I wouldn’t choose my brother. I shouldn’t have to make that choice, but my brother wants me to. And the fact that he wants me to make that choice only confirms why I shouldn’t choose him. Do you see where I’m coming from?” 

Lily tries to remember the last time she’d gotten a letter from Petunia, and comes up blank. 

“Yeah,” Lily says. “I don’t think if I love James like that, at least, not yet. We’re only seventeen, Sirius. But I do like him a lot. I think I could get there, you know? With a little time. I see that happening. I see us in love, with you as best man for our wedding. Do you think I’m delusional for thinking that?” 

“No, course not,” Sirius says. “I plan my wedding all the time, too. Even though the likelihood of it happening is zilch.” 

Lily gives him a look. She can tell that he isn’t going to say any more on the topic. 

They’re joined by Remus, who slides down the banister and sits on the floor, his legs crossed, in one elegant motion.

“You’d be good at ballet,” Lily says, thoughtful.

“I should hope so,” Remus says. “My body’s broken itself to pieces and stitched itself back together enough that all my joints are double jointed by now.” 

“Melodramatic Lycanthrope,” Sirius says. “Hey! That sounds like the name of a Bowie song.”

“No, it doesn’t,” Lily says. 

Remus sighs good-naturedly. 

“All that said and done,” Remus says. “Padfoot, would you join me upstairs? We’re not turning the lights out until everyone’s all tucked into bed.” 

“How socialist of you,” Sirius says. “I appreciate that.”

Lily’s looking between both of them, thoughtfully.

“Sirius?” she says, a smile in her voice.

“Hmm?” Sirius lets Remus pull him up from the sofa, and holds his hand for longer than is necessary.

Lily beams. “Are you   _sure_ Padfoot isn’t Remus’s dog?” 

Remus makes a noise that might be a chortle. One can never tell with Remus.

“Maybe he is,” Sirius says, and gives her a smile that answers the question she hadn’t asked aloud. It’s genuine but it’s also soft and open, and it’s clear he’s thinking of someone he loves very much. It’s suddenly obvious to her that that person is Remus.

“I’m happy for you,” Lily says, softly.

“Thank you,” Sirius says, equally softly. “Me, for you, too. James is a dear.”

Lily’s aware that Remus is laughing silently behind him, trying not to make any noise. Sirius sees her looking.

“Ignore Moony, we all do,” he says easily, while looping an arm around Remus’s waist and turning him around, towards the steps that lead to the boy’s dorms. “Goodnight, Lils.”

“Goodnight, Sirius,” Lily says. 

Remus is still laughing, but he’s buried his face in Sirius’s shoulder to muffle all proof of this activity.

 _No wonder they get into so much trouble_ , Lily reflects. 

The air still smells like Sirius’s cigarette. Lily puts the letter from her parents in her pocket. She has a lot to think about, and a lot to process, but it’s also late enough that she needs to sleep.

She makes her way to the girls’ dorms, and realises that even though she didn’t get her Herbology essay checked by James,  a cup of Alice’s midnight tea, Marlene’s lucky sweater, Remus’s musical number or Dorcas’s caricature, she certainly had gotten something else, possibly something even more valuable – Sirius Black’s insight.

And to think there was a time she’d believed he didn’t have any. 


End file.
